After a short pause, Mr Haredale shouted twice or thrice. Then cried
aloud, 'Is there any one in hiding here, who knows my voice! There is
nothing to fear now. If any of my people are near, I entreat them
to answer!' He called them all by name; his voice was echoed in many
mournful tones; then all was silent as before.
They were standing near the foot of the turret, where the alarm-bell
hung. The fire had raged there, and the floors had been sawn, and hewn,
and beaten down, besides. It was open to the night; but a part of the
staircase still remained, winding upward from a great mound of dust and
cinders. Fragments of the jagged and broken steps offered an insecure
and giddy footing here and there, and then were lost again, behind
protruding angles of the wall, or in the deep shadows cast upon it by
other portions of the ruin; for by this time the moon had risen, and
shone brightly.
As they stood here, listening to the echoes as they died away, and
hoping in vain to hear a voice they knew, some of the ashes in this
turret slipped and rolled down. Startled by the least noise in that
melancholy place, Solomon looked up in his companion's face, and saw
that he had turned towards the spot, and that he watched and listened
keenly.
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